Antibacterial activity evaluation of selected essential oils in liquid and vapor phase on respiratory tract pathogens.

BACKGROUND: The increasing number of multidrug-resistant bacteria and the fact of antibiotic resistance is leading to a continuous need for discovering alternative treatments against infections, e.g. in the case of respiratory tract diseases. Essential oils (EOs), because of their volatility, can easily reach both the upper and lower parts of the respiratory tract via inhalation. Therefore, the aim of the present study was the antibacterial evaluation of clove, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus, thyme, scots pine, peppermint, and citronella EOs against respiratory tract pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, S. mutans, S. pyogenes, Haemophilus influenzae, H. parainfluenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. Furthermore, we wanted to compare the antibacterial effect of these EOs in two different test systems to provide data for the development of an appropriate product formulation. METHODS: Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were determined with in vitro vapor phase test (VPT) and broth macrodilution test (BDT). The chemical and percentage compositions of the EOs were determined by GC-MS and GC-FID analysis. RESULTS: Among the EOs, thyme was the most effective against S. mutans (MIC: 0.04 mg/mL in BDT, but cinnamon bark and clove oils also presented high inhibition in liquid medium with MIC values of 0.06 mg/mL and 0.1 mg/mL against S. pneumoniae and S. pyogenes, respectively. M. catarrhalis was the most sensitive to thyme EO (MIC: 0.09 mg/mL). Cinnamon bark EO was the most effective against Haemophilus spp. (MIC: 0.06 mg/mL). In the VPT, cinnamon bark was the most effective oil against all investigated pathogens with MIC values in the range of 15.62-90 mul/L. Surprisingly, the eucalyptus and scots pine showed weak activity against the test bacteria in both test systems. CONCLUSIONS: The EO of thyme, clove and cinnamon bark may provide promising antibacterial activity against respiratory tract pathogens either in liquid medium or in vapor phase. However, their effect is lower than that of the reference antibiotics. The combination of EOs and antibiotics may be beneficial in the alternative treatment of respiratory tract diseases. In vivo studies are necessary to calculate the effective dose of EOs in patients and determine their possible side effects and toxicity

Adaptive Immunity in Ankylosing Spondylitis: Phenotype and Functional Alterations of T-Cells before and during Infliximab Therapy

Our aim was to assess the phenotype of T-cell subsets in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease. In addition, we also tested short-term T-cell activation characteristics. Measurements were done in 13 AS patients before and during the intravenous therapy with anti-TNF agent infliximab (IFX). Flow cytometry was used to determine T-cell subsets in peripheral blood and their intracellular signaling during activation. The prevalence of Th2 and Th17 cells responsible for the regulation of adaptive immunity was higher in AS than in 9 healthy controls. Although IFX therapy improved patients' condition, immune phenotype did not normalize. Cytoplasmic and mitochondrial calcium responses of CD4+ and CD8+ cells to a specific activation were delayed, while NO generation was increased in AS. NO generation normalized sooner upon IFX than calcium response. These results suggest an abnormal immune phenotype with functional disturbances of CD4+ and CD8+ cells in AS

Distinguishing core and antenna fucosylated glycopeptides based on low energy tandem mass spectra

A straightforward approach has been developed to distinguish core and antenna fucosylation in glycopeptides. The method does not require derivatization, and can be easily adapted into a proteomics workflow. The key aspect is to use low collision energy CID (on a QTOF type instrument) when only single step fragmentation processes occur. Low collision energy should show the precursor ion as the largest peak in the spectrum; the survival yield should be ideally over 50%; and this is obtained at a collision energy ca. 30% of that typically used for proteomics. In such a case interfering processes like fucose migration or consecutive reactions are minimized. Core and antenna fucosylation can be discriminated using various ion abundance ratios. Low energy CID spectra are very “clean” (no chemical noise), and the ions used for locating the fucose are among the major peaks; making the method well suited for analytical work. Monitoring the change in the proportion of core and antenna fucosylation at the same glycosylation site is also feasible

Klinikopatológiai szemléletű emlőrákkutatások

In the second half of the 20th century research focusing to breast carcinomas at the Semmelweis University had been mostly linked to the 2nd Department of Pathology. Nowadays, following the rapidly improving treatment modalities in breast cancer there is an increasing need for defining new predictive and prognostic markers. The modern molecular pathological approach helps tremendously in mapping the biological behavior of individual cases of breast cancers and meanwhile, it is one of the prerequisites of a more efficient treatment both in neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings, as well as in metastatic disease. We provide a brief review of the relevant results we have obtained in breast cancer research between 2000 and 2015

Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia by Natural Drugs

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most common urinary diseases affecting men, generally after the age of 50. The prevalence of this multifactorial disease increases with age. With aging, the plasma level of testosterone decreases, as well as the testosterone/estrogen ratio, resulting in increased estrogen activity, which may facilitate the hyperplasia of the prostate cells. Another theory focuses on dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and the activity of the enzyme 5α-reductase, which converts testosterone to DHT. In older men, the activity of this enzyme increases, leading to a decreased testosterone/DHT ratio. DHT may promote prostate cell growth, resulting in hyperplasia. Some medicinal plants and their compounds act by modulating this enzyme, and have the above-mentioned targets. This review focuses on herbal drugs that are most widely used in the treatment of BPH, including pumpkin seed, willow herb, tomato, maritime pine bark, Pygeum africanum bark, rye pollen, saw palmetto fruit, and nettle root, highlighting the latest results of preclinical and clinical studies, as well as safety issues. In addition, the pharmaceutical care and other therapeutic options of BPH, including pharmacotherapy and surgical options, are discussed, summarizing and comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each therapy

Label-Free Semiquantitative Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Proteomics Analysis of Laryngeal/Hypopharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma on Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded Tissue Samples - a Pilot Study

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck region is the sixth most frequent malignancy with high mortality rate. Due to its poor prognosis it is considered a growing public health problem worldwide inspite of existing treatment modalities. Thus, early diagnosis of new diseases and recurrences is emerging on one hand, but on the other hand troublesome in the lack of reliable tumor markers in this field. The rapid development of proteomics has opened new perspectives in tumor marker discovery. Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) as the gold standard in proteomics enables the semi-quantitative analysis of proteins within various tissues. Abundance differences between tumor and normal tissue also can be interpreted as tumor specific changes. The aim of this study was to identify potential tumor markers of laryngeal/hypopharyngeal SCC by revealing abundance changes between cancerous and the surrounding phenotypically healthy tissue. After separating the phenotypically cancerous and healthy parts of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues, each sample underwent protein recovery process and tryptic digestion for label-free semi-quantitative LC/MS analysis. Eight proteins showed significantly higher abundance in tumor including tenascin, transmembrane emp24 domain-containing protein 2, cytoplasmic dynein light chain 1, coactosin-like protein, small proline-rich protein 2D, nucleolin, U5 small nuclear RNP 200-kDa helicase and fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase. Desmoglein-1 and keratin type I cytoskeletal 9 were down-regulated in tumor. Using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis we mapped the signaling pathways these proteins play role in regarding other tumors. Based on these findings these proteins may serve as promising biomarkers in the fight against laryngeal/hypopharyngeal SCCs

Molaterhesség postmenopausában

A molaterhesség a terhességi trophoblastbetegségek közé sorolt, rendkívül ritka kórkép. A kórkép patogenezise egye- dülálló, hiszen az anyai daganat eredete maga a terhességi szövet. Előfordulását tekintve főleg a reproduktív korú nőket érinti. Esetbemutatásunkban egy 53 éves nőbeteg postmenopausalis vérzési rendellenességet okozó panaszai- nak hátterében igazolódott molaterhesség. A molaterhesség fokozott kockázattal járó veszélyállapot, mely esetén a mihamarabbi befejezés alapját a megfelelő diagnosztika adja. Kezdeti tünetei megtévesztőek lehetnek, ectopiás ter- hességet vagy inkomplett abortuszt, anovulációs vérzési rendellenességet utánozhatnak. Esetismertetésünk célja, hogy felhívja a figyelmet a molaterhesség atipikus megjelenésére; postmenopausalis nőbetegünk kapcsán áttekintjük a molaterhesség kezelésének alapelveit, és bemutatjuk egy sikeresen kezelt eset diagnosztikus és terápiás lépéseit

Sensitive method for glycosaminoglycan analysis of tissue sections

A simple, isocratic HPLC method based on HILIC-WAX separation, has been developed for analyzing sulfated disaccharides of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). To our best knowledge, this is the first successful attempt using this special phase in nano-HPLC-MS analysis. Mass spectrometry was based on negative ionization, improving both sensitivity and specificity. Detection limit for most sulfated disaccharides were approximately 1fmol; quantitation limits 10fmol. The method was applied for glycosaminoglycan profiling of tissue samples, using surface digestion protocols. This novel combination provides sufficient sensitivity for GAG disaccharide analysis, which was first performed using prostate cancer tissue microarrays. Preliminary results show that GAG analysis may be useful for identifying cancer related changes in small amounts of tissue samples (ca. 10mug)